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When growing houseplants, you may be surprised to learn that the outside environment does affect your indoor plants. If you are trying to maintain a healthy indoor garden, one of the main barriers to your plants’ health is pollution. In cities, and even in suburbs, dust, grime, and exhaust make it hard even for indoor plants to thrive.

Because plants ‘breathe” through their leaves, allowing their leaves to become covered with dust and dirt is not only unattractive, but also harmful to the plants. Therefore, you should pay special attention to cleaning the foliage of your plants, making sure that they are kept clean and free from dirt and dust.

If your plants have shiny smooth leaves, the easiest way to clean the leaves is to give them a sponge-bath with slightly warmed water and a very small amount of soap. Then, rinse with clean water, making sure that no soapy residue is left on the leaves. This will remove any dust or dirt, as well as any pests which may have found their way onto your houseplants.

If your plants have hairy leaves, such as African Violets, keep them clean by occasionally brushing the leaves with a fine soft brush. However, be gentle, so that you do not harm the leaves with rough treatment.

During the summer, you can give your plants special care by returning them to nature for the season. If you have a garden, or even a porch or patio, your houseplants can spend two or three months outside each year. However, keep in mind that you should try to replicate their indoor conditions when you leave your plants in the garden, as they have acclimated to being indoors, just like an aralia plant. Try to replicate the amount of light your plants were receiving indoors, keeping plants in shady or sunny spots as needed. Aralias usually get wilted stems when exposed to too much light outdoors. A nursery can also help you determine which of your plants prefer sunny or shady environments.

While you could take the plants out of their pots and plant them directly in the garden, it is probably better to sink the pots into the soil, leaving the plant in the pot. This will keep your plants from the shock of transferring them to completely new and different soil. Also, the pot will keep the roots from spreading, which would make it difficult to re-pot them at the end of the summer. You may wish to drop some gravel into the hole first, to ensure adequate drainage.

While your plants are spending time in the garden, you should not forget about them. Even with rainfall, make sure that they are adequately watered. Make sure to examine them occasionally to make sure that they are not being attacked by pests. When you bring them back inside at the end of the summer, make sure no pests get a free ride into your house, where they can attack your other houseplants.

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If you have many plants, then likely most of them will be considered foliage plants. Unlike flowering plants, they are not as showy. Instead they make up for it by growing easily and quickly, and acclimating themselves well to any environment in which they are placed.

Foliage plants are an important part of any home or garden. With very few exceptions, they grow and flourish all year long, unlike most flowering varieties. There are many hundreds of different types of foliage plants, including many hybrids and varieties, which can add interest to your garden.

Home gardeners can choose from a nearly endless range of size, shape, leaf form, and color when choosing plants. Many of these can be found in any nursery, and can be grown in any part of the country.

For example, Kangaroo Vine is recognizable through its long, narrow shiny leaves, which are heart-shaped with jagged edges. This plant grows to be three feet tall, and does best in East- or West-facing windows.

Another example, Maranta, is sometimes called the Prayer Plant. This is because of the shape of its leaves, which close up at night. It is a low plant, usually staying under a foot tall. The leaves are a beautiful green, covered with diamond-shapes spots. These spots start off purple when the leaves are young, turning brownish as they mature. These plants require a humid atmosphere, so you should spray them with water regularly, and they do best in an East or West window. They should be fertilized frequently and always kept well watered if you expect them to thrive. If you wish to grow more, they can be propagated with leaf cuttings.

Pandanus are another type of foliage plant which grows well in many climates. However, be sure to select an appropriate species, as some can grow to be fifty feet tall or more. Others have been cultivated for home growth. The popular name of Screw Pine includes both the types grown at home and those living in a natural state. These plants have sword-like leaves which grow in spirals from a common base. They are narrow and can grow up to three feet long in the houseplant variety. The leaves are dark green, with silvery or red stripes at the base. The leaves’ edges are spiny, and they have sharp points, making it a perfect outdoor plant just like the yucca plant and the Agave plant. Pandanus grow best when kept as moist as possible, so you should take care to water them often, as well as spray their leaves. Care for Pandanus state that they should be kept in partial shade although they can tolerate a warm atmosphere, and they enjoy East or West windows. Panadus can be grown by cutting off the suckers at the base and rooting them in new dirt.

As you can see, there are many choices when it comes to foliage plants. Most are easy to grow, and can provide interesting variety.

You have probably heard how easy it is to grow houseplants or an indoor garden many times. I’m sure you’ve been regaled with how simple it is to do. If you’re afraid you don’t have a green thumb, don’t worry. All the talk you’ve heard about how easy and simple it is was true. You can grow indoor plants easily. You just need to know a few basic things about how to do it right.

Growing houseplants is very easy and requires only that you be interested in doing so and have a willingness to learn about it. Anyone can build birdhouses, fix a flat tire, sew their own clothes, or do just about anything else if they really want to. Houseplants and indoor gardens are no different. Once you learn the basics, you can plunge in and enjoy watching the fruits of your labor bloom.

Even if you live in a basement or in the Arctic Circle, it’s possible to grow indoor plants using some technologies available on the market. Things like hydroponics and UV lights can work wonders with even the most limited spaces when it comes to growing indoor plants or gardens.

The rules for gardening are not hard-and-fast and results will usually vary from person to person, garden to garden. Indoor planting is no different and this is one of the charms of doing it: every plant, every room, and every gardener is different, every time. When you grow a successful plant in your home, you’ll feel a thrill knowing that it did well because of your skill and ability and not because you can read directions and color by numbers.

The choices of plants, configurations, and arrangements are limitless, so this is where your imagination can really shine. It’s all about your personal taste and what you think will look good in your home, plus a little experimentation. There are a few guidelines to follow as far as growing and caring for the plants, however, and we’ll cover that next.

Knowing your plant’s preferences to light, humidity, soil, watering, and so forth is the number one skill to learn in order to successfully grow indoor plants and gardens. When deciding what kinds of plants or seeds to get, these are the factors that need to be considered, along with the intended location of the plant and how much time and energy you’ve got to care for it. Most plants do well in most areas, with a few exceptions for exotics or specialty plants.

Consider the space you want the plant to occupy. What kind of window does it have and which direction does that window face? North- and east-facing windows mean not much light will get to the plant daily, so low-light and perhaps colder weather plants are a good choice here. The opposite is true for south- or west-facing windows. This time, Schefflera arboricola and other varieties of arboricola which prefers higher light is suitable here. Knowing how much light it will get is paramount to choosing the right plant for the situation.

Now consider how humid or dry your home and the room the plant will occupy is. Bathrooms and kitchens tend to be more humid than other rooms in the home, so take that into consideration when looking at plants. Whatever your climate and home’s conditions, though, there will be plenty of plants to choose from.

So have fun and plant an indoor garden or houseplant today!

When growing houseplants, you may be surprised to learn that the outside environment does affect your indoor plants. If you are trying to maintain a healthy indoor garden, one of the main barriers to your plants’ health is pollution. In cities, and even in suburbs, dust, grime, and exhaust make it hard even for indoor plants to thrive.

Because plants ‘breathe” through their leaves, allowing their leaves to become covered with dust and dirt is not only unattractive, but also harmful to the plants. Therefore, you should pay special attention to cleaning the foliage of your plants, making sure that they are kept clean and free from dirt and dust.

If your plants have shiny smooth leaves, the easiest way to clean the leaves is to give them a sponge-bath with slightly warmed water and a very small amount of soap. Then, rinse with clean water, making sure that no soapy residue is left on the leaves. This will remove any dust or dirt, as well as any pests which may have found their way onto your houseplants.

If your plants have hairy leaves, such as African Violets, keep them clean by occasionally brushing the leaves with a fine soft brush. However, be gentle, so that you do not harm the leaves with rough treatment.

During the summer, you can give your plants special care by returning them to nature for the season. If you have a garden, or even a porch or patio, your houseplants can spend two or three months outside each year. However, keep in mind that you should try to replicate their indoor conditions when you leave your plants in the garden, as they have acclimated to being indoors, just like an aralia plant. Try to replicate the amount of light your plants were receiving indoors, keeping plants in shady or sunny spots as needed. Aralias usually get wilted stems when exposed to too much light outdoors. A nursery can also help you determine which of your plants prefer sunny or shady environments.

While you could take the plants out of their pots and plant them directly in the garden, it is probably better to sink the pots into the soil, leaving the plant in the pot. This will keep your plants from the shock of transferring them to completely new and different soil. Also, the pot will keep the roots from spreading, which would make it difficult to re-pot them at the end of the summer. You may wish to drop some gravel into the hole first, to ensure adequate drainage.

While your plants are spending time in the garden, you should not forget about them. Even with rainfall, make sure that they are adequately watered. Make sure to examine them occasionally to make sure that they are not being attacked by pests. When you bring them back inside at the end of the summer, make sure no pests get a free ride into your house, where they can attack your other houseplants.

These beautiful flowers are the center of many legends and grow wherever it is tropical and beautiful. Being aerial plants, these flowers usually grow off the ground attached to trees, rocks, or other vegetation. There are thousands of orchid species in an equal number of colors, fragrances, and blooms.

As orchid enthusiasts continue to experiment and cross-pollinate their plants, the variations in the flowers become mind-boggling. Let’s look at the three most well-known orchid species.

Dendrobium

These are one of the most popular species because of their wide range of color and geographically spread-out avialability. Growing primarily in Asia and the Philippines, these species of orchid can be found in New Zealand, Australia, and New Guinea as well. Their colors range the spectrum from pure white to dark purple to sunny yellow. Many hybrid versions of the dendrobium exist as hobbyists continue to work them into even more variety.

Cattleya

An extravagant orchid species, the Cattleya is beautiful and grows in South America and Asia and a handful of points between. They generally bloom in small groups of one to eight flowers per season and have a wide range of colors from white to deep purple and even yellows and reds. The Cattleya is a spreading plant and thus requires some room to grow and has artful stems and leaves to match the beautiful blooms it produces.

Vanda

These are somewhat strange-looking plants with very exotic flowers. One of the most easily recognized types of orchid, this plant is famous for its singular stalks which sprout very few leaves, each of which will contain a flower at its base. Most stalks will have five to twenty blooms and are a rare combination of stark simplicity and beautiful, extravagant color. This species is found all over the tropics, from the Philippines to Indonesia and on continents like India, Asia, and even on the Himalayas. Revered in many cultures as a symbol of the gods, this orchid is often grown as a centerpiece in gardens throughout the world.

When it comes to orchids, there are literally tens of thousands of individual species to choose from. The three mentioned here are merely the most common genres of this hugely popular tropical flower. Orchid-growing as a task is a challenge for most enthusiasts because of the specific climate requirements these beauties require, but it is a rewarding endeavor that they accomplish with love. Most large nurseries, flower shops, and other plant outlets will have some orchid species available for you to showcase in your home and will offer you some guide on orchid plant care.